Stick a Fork in Christie’s Political Future Because It’s Done *Update x2

TRENTON — The attorney representing David Wildstein, the former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official who ordered the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge last year, today called into question the accuracy of Gov. Chris Christie’s statements on the scandal.

The charge, which was made in a letter sent by attorney Alan Zegas to the Port Authority, said Wildstein “contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some.”

Zegas also said, “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” last month.

Zegas goes on to say Gov. Christie has no grounds to deny his client payment of legal fees and the Stwar Ledger posted the actual letter in a .pdf file that looks like this:(Click here and scroll down to view entire letter)

It’s all going to come down to the money. In the end it always does. But clearly, Christie’s move to distance himself from Bridgegate by laying the blame on others and then pulling the plug on paying their legal fees is going to be his political – if not criminal – undoing.

For Gov. Christie, throwing his loyal followers under the bus isn’t going to be as easy a task as it was for Sarah Palin. Apparently, people from New Jersey didn’t read the Alaska handbook on Proper Minion Behaviour for they are not only standing up to their old bosses – but were smart enough to keep evidence to prove their positions.============ UPDATE ============

Excellent 2 1/2 min video compilation of Christie’s denials on camera – click here – and a poll asking if we think Christie should resign if it turns out his denials are false – be sure to cast your vote!

This is what the poll looks like right now:

============ UPDATE x2============
Same poll 2 hours later:

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7 Responses to “Stick a Fork in Christie’s Political Future Because It’s Done *Update x2”

The lesson for Christie is to never turn your back on someone who is as deeply involved in a scandal as you are. Wildstein probably thought that his and Christie’s relationship would endure even after he lost his job. He found out he was wrong when Christie threw him under the bus at his two hour presser. He should have known that Christie would do everything in his power to cover his own butt, even if it involves denying he has known him since high school. It would piss me off, too, to have someone I thought I knew claim to not know me, cause me to lose my job, and leave me hanging out to dry without a way to pay my legal costs for something he was in on from the start. This makes me view Christie not only as a bully, but a lying coward and back-stabbing tool who is only interested in saving his own skin. I find it very interesting that Christie isn’t making himself available to the media after Wildstein released this letter.

Even if the report from Kornacki is true that Wildstein and Christie weren’t actual high school friends – but that Wildstein was brought on board because of his long-term relationship with Baroni, it’s still on record that Wildstein’s position at PA was specifically created at the behest of Christie – so in the end it’s the same thing.

For the life of me I can’t wrap my head around why Wildstein’s defense fund was taken from him – regardless of who knew what and when – Christie had to know this was going to backfire. It’s total hubris for Christie to think that neither Wildstein nor Kelly would play the self-preservation card.

I’ve long thought that if an actual federal investigation had ever taken place into Palin’s political wranglings that one or more from her inner circle wouldn’t have turned tail on her, too.

The difference, then, is the PA isn’t just controlled by the Governor of NJ. Unlike Alaska, the state is far more populous, with way more political wheels to grease, and Christie won’t get the free pass given to Sarah because he can’t portray himself as the mother of a special needs child.

Jabba’s looking at time in the spice mines. Needs to remember not to hire people like Wildstein in the future.

… we remember when David Wildstein was mayor.

He was elected young, probably 30 at the most. And he immediately brought a reign of insanity to peaceful Livingston. He practiced a particularly mean-spirited slash and burn style of politics, a combination of Bob Haldeman and Idi Amin. He spread false rumors about people, lied, and tried to ruin reputations of decent people to advance his own career. He is easily the most hated mayor in this town’s history, hands down.

He is a truly bad guy, exactly the wrong person you want with any power. .

Everyone I talk to agrees that closing lanes to get back at a mayor is right out of the Wildstein playbook. But since Wildstein is capable of anything, a lot of people also believe that he would have no problem saying Christie ordered him to close the lanes, whether it’s true or not. That explains the odd, erratic behavior from the Governor….he’s caught between a rock and a hard place.

Of course Wildstein would send Christie to the spice mines to save himself, just as I think Christie would do to Wildstein.

Christie doesn’t completely control PATH.The governors of two states control Path. Christie and Governor Cuomo,who is a New York Democrat. Wildstein was like a dog turd on the shoe of PATH. They’ve scraped him off, and Christie is in no position to do anything about the loss of his legal representation. There was probably a determination that the legal interests of PATH and Wildstein have diverged.

Christie probably gamed this whole thing in his head. The failure to successfully expire the legislative subpoena power has already cost him. Stalling until January 13 was the plan. The subpoena powers weren’t even about GWB closure at the start. They would have expired Jan 13.

You bring up several interesting and valid points. As far as control of PA goes though, Christie first added 35 of his own hires to the PA staff – and within a year that number had grown to 80. That is a drastic shift in control, especially when you factor in how many of those positions were top end.

I have confidence in Wisniewski – though I have no solid reason to offer for the trust.